I don’t think tattoos are attractive on a male or female. If I met a woman and liked her, a tattoo might not be a deal breaker but it sure wouldn’t help speed things along.
Really, I’d rather see an honestly acquired scar on a person’s arm or leg than a tattoo.
I respect anyone’s right to have and enjoy a tattoo, as long as they respect my right to think it detracts from their appearance.
Officially, I am very cool about whatever anyone wants to do to their own body, but I do find that I have a sort of visceral shudder when I see a tattoo on an everyday, ordinary person. I have no idea why, because I have always wanted a tattoo myself, but I can’t seem to shut off the “eww” factor when I see them on others. (Which may be why I’ve been putting off getting one of my own for 21 years now.)
I see them like I see bumper stickers on a car. About one in fifty are new and interesting. Of course, if someone comes up with something original and artistic, everyone starts copying it.
As has been evidenced above, even when you think something is unique, it probably isn’t.
Wait until you’re 60, then go for it.
Male, 37 here.
If it’s smallish I think they can quite beautiful. Particularly the ankle, calf, shoulder, nape, or lower back (not really into the big harley wing take-offs though). A friend of mine had a small, full colour parrot on her shoulder and it looked wonderful on her.
No matter how much I fawn about the idea of even a wee celtic knot on her ankle, MrseNiGma will hear nothing of it…no indelible ink for her, no sir!! Ah well, we’ll stick to dry erase markers and henna 
Whenever I see a girl with a tattoo on the small of her back, I have to wonder: Just who is her target audience?
It’s not that they’re attractive or not, it’s just why? In 50 years that tattoo is going to look pretty awful. I feel pretty much the same way about all tattoos, and peircings, for that matter.
I have to believe that if more men followed one simple rule, all this excess adornment would be disappear pretty quickly. I read this rule somewhere a long time ago, and I think it’s near perfect.
“Tell your girl every day that she’s beautiful, and that you love her.”
My personal opinion is that I don’t find tattoos attractive on women. A tattoo doesn’t make an otherwise attractive woman ugly, but overall I consider them a minus not a plus to a woman’s appearance. I’m 42, so it’s probably partly a generational thing.
IMHO the tackiness is proportional to the size and/or number of tattoos.
One small tattoo can be cool, I guess, if it’s a tattoo of something REALLY meaningful to the person wearing it. And I mean REALLY meaningful. In high school a bunch of girls in my class hit 18 and did butterflies. How friggin’ lame can you get?
One bigass, conspicuous tattoo running halfway up your arm = tacky.
Ten small tattoos = tacky.
Etc.
You know, I used to think that you needed to have this ultra special reason to have one, otherwise you were some mainstream wannabe idiot. But you know what? Who cares. Yes, the 3 girls in the above example, may, down the road, regret doing it. Or maybe, when they’re 40 and still friends, it will have gained significant meaning, and be a great reminder of a long friendship. Or maybe they’ll just think the tattoos are pretty. The point is, people do what they like, and there’s no way you can read their minds to know if they “qualify” for a tattoo.
When I got mine, people were all like, what does it mean? What do you mean, “what does it mean?” It’s fuckin body art. It looks good. That’s about as ridiculous as, “Oh, I see you got a new hat. What does it mean? WHAT? You don’t have a super meaningful reason for buying and wearing that hat? OMG, you poser, loser, wannabe!” (Yes, I know the hat’s not permanent, but I think you can see the point.)
Ok, enough ranting. FWIW, I think, for the most part, they look great and sexy on women. (I am male, 27)
I agree with a lot of the posters who don’t like sleeves and huge flaming skulls, and “your band here” written on their foreheads. I think there is something very sexy about a well placed tat that has good color (goes with the skin tone) and isn’t so screaming obvious. Personally, for my tastes, too many is when you start to look cluttered, or start becoming super symmetrical. Mine’s on the inside of my ankle, so if I get a second, the other ankle is out and so is any location even near the original. I prefer non symmetry, so I’d go for the outside of the opposite leg, midway between the ankle and knee or something.
In some cases, it won’t take that long. Tats were popular when I was in college. Now I am seeing what some of these tats look like and they look pretty beat. They have a washed out ‘bleedy ink’ look to them. They haven’t been cared for and it really shows.
Tattoos can be nice looking, but for heaven’s sakes, get a real professional to do the job. Spend more than $25 for a quick job (speaking generally, not to the OP).
If you’re getting a tattoo because it is the current fashion, you’re a slave to faddish fashion and simply a sheep, following the flock.
If you’re getting a tattoo to express yourself, you’re inarticulate. There are more appropriate and more creative and more flexible ways to ooze self-expression.
If you are getting a tattoo as a rebellious act of defiance, you’re simply being immature.
I think tattoos are becoming a badge of tastelessness and classlessness. It’s a form of gutter-creeping slumming. People get them in order to proudly say, “I’m low class and I love it, I hope you do too.” There will never be a time when the Prince of Denmark will ask for your hand in marriage, even if you are otherwise quite gorgeous, if you are adorned with a tatt. 
Give it a miss.
As with most things it depends on the person and the tattoo. I’ve seen big tattoos that looked cool, and I’ve seen big tattoos that looked awful.
Small anecdote: I’ve had to visit a prison lately (not as an inmate! :)) and there are more bad tattoos there than I’ve ever seen at one place before in my life. On the inmates AND the other visitors!
Tattoos on women are a major turn off. I consider it self-mutilation. Not to mention a little immodest- where some of these are located are areas where you really shouldn’t be allowing a stranger to access.
Who says they’re looking for an audience? Okay, I’ll admit, the lower-back tattoo is ridiculously overdone (I know at least seven people with a tattoo there. It’s crazy), and a lot of people who get it there probably do intend it to be seen. But a tattoo in general is not necessarily about who will see it. The one I intend to get (none so far) is going to be either between my shoulder blades or a little above, centered on my back. So in most shirts it won’t be visible. And that’s fine with me because I’m not getting it for it to be admired. I’m getting it as a permanent tribute to my amazing, wonderful, dearly departed mother. (It’ll be a little star with a halo and angel wings, with her initials and the date of her death underneath. Because I’m named after a star and she always called me her little angel. ) If someone sees it, okay, whatever, that’s fine. But that’s not why I’m getting it. If it looks like shit in 30 years, eh, that’s life.
If some guy wants to think of it as me mutilating myself, hey, that’s his opinion. But it’s my body, and I think of it as decoration and celebration. Besides, if he thinks like that, I think the assorted ear piercings and eyebrow ring will turn him off before he ever gets to see the tattoo. 
I tend to look at tats on ladies the same way I do excessive piercings (nose, eyebrows, etc.)…I’ve seen some women for whom it does not detract from their looks, but I’ve never seen a woman enhanced by it.
I’m very old fashioned. I also dislike most forms of makeup and hair treatments. Of course, there is a part of me that is intrigued by the ‘naughty’ aspect of it all, but that gets tiresome after a while.
So guess what I did? I found myself a mate that conforms to my standard of beauty. Bully for me. If you want to go out and get a tat, as long as you’ve given some thought to it, good for you. Just don’t be surprised that the reaction you get is not always the one you want.
That said, I’ve begun to mellow in my declining years, and if my Lady were to get a tattoo, I’d just trust to her taste and good judgement, just as I’d expect to be involved in the process (even if it meant getting one for myself!)
Mid 30’s male here. It depends entirely on the tatoo(s). Generally I like some tasteful ink. I’ve been acquainted with a woman that probably has 20+ tatoos, some of them big. She probably has ink covering 30% of her skin. In my opinion they work well on her and are very appealing. An ex-girlfriend got one tatoo. It just didn’t work. Something about a flaming heart wrapped in barb wire just didn’t do it for me. Another had a small cross (she inked it herself) below her waist to the left of center. It was very nice!
I guess what I’m saying is that it depends on the tats, but they can be very good.
That’s funny - I tell my girlfriend that every day, and she hasn’t stopped planning and getting tattoos. Or wearing makeup, or dying her hair, for that matter. See, my theory is that she enjoys those things, and isn’t doing it to please me. In fact, as time goes by, she’s come to enjoy excess adornment more and more - she was pretty much a tomboy when we first got together years ago and has become “girlier” as she gets older.
I’ve heard the tattoo located in the small of a woman’s back referred to as ‘the mark of the whore.’
I’m not suggesting that this perception is or is not accurate; I’m just saying that this stereotype exists. Like it or not, people are going to make all sorts of assumptions about you based on your appearance.
And you know what the first part of assumption is, right? I’ve heard of people refer to dyed red hair as the mark of the whore, but that’s certainly not going to stop me dying my hair red. People can assume I’m stupid and whorish if they wish, but they’re clearly too ill-informed and ridiculous for me to give a tin shit about their opinion.
But if you’re going to get a tattoo, at least do some research. If you’re getting a tattoo in a foreign language, make sure you know what it means. Yes, Britney, we’re looking at you. If you saw a cool symbol, find out what it symbolizes. The Crips might take offense to you appropriating their look.
That totally reminds me. This guy makes doing some reasearch look like a very good idea. I think what he did sucks for the people he did it to, but it’s kinda funny too.